Crucify Thy Demons: Snakes Henchmen MC

by Grayson, Alivia

  “Don’t fuckin’ push me, bitch!”

  “If you don’t want me, then fine, I’ll sign your stupid divorce papers and set you free. I just want to know one thing, how could you believe Marcus over me?” Roman stares at me, his eyes darting from side to side, though he doesn’t answer my question.

  I sigh, inwardly. “I don’t want to lose you, Roman. What you’re accusing me off is ridiculous. Do you honestly think that I would have married you, marked myself for you if I intended to leave with Marcus?”

  “I don’t know what I believe, Marley.”

  “You should believe me, Roman. I suck back a sob, yet Roman says nothing. He’s stubborn, and he’s proud, and right now he’s hurt. All I can do is leave and give him space to think things through. “I will leave if that’s what you want. I can see how much you hate me now, but I won’t leave Romany. She’s my life. She’s all I have left, Roman.”

  I blink and the tears I didn’t want to let out, fall from my eyes freely. Roman’s grip on me loosens, but I can see how much pain he’s in, it shines in his eyes. Roman doesn’t hate me; he hates what he thinks I’ve done.

  I wish he’d had more faith in me, enough to believe me anyway. However, he didn’t, and there’s nothing I can do about that now. My husband is no longer mine, and he won’t allow my daughter to live with me. Not yet, at least. I’ll fight him on it, of course, I will never just give up, Romany is too precious to me. However, for now, I’ll walk away.

  “I know you’re not going to let me take Romany with me, no matter if I moved in next door. However, I will beg you if I have to, please don’t stop me seeing her. Please, Roman. If you took her from me indefinitely, I don’t think I’d survive the pain. You can be there if it makes you feel better. I just want to be able to see her.” Roman says nothing; he doesn’t even blink. “Don’t have your women around my daughter either, Romany deserves better than that. This is her home, and she needs to feel safe here. She doesn’t need to see her daddy bringing a different woman home every night.”

  No child deserves that. I don’t want Romany growing up seeing that. I know what kind of man Roman used to be. Half the club took great pleasure in telling me how Roman would fuck a different woman every night, fuck her then move on to the next. I’m the only woman that Roman ever wanted to spend more than one night with.

  Before yesterday, he wanted to spend his life with me. Roman asked me to marry him, threw me the most beautiful wedding. He became my husband and me, his wife. Did he think I made those vows lightly?

  Before yesterday, I had everything I ever wanted, a man who loved me, our little girl, a life that was finally perfect. Now it’s all ruined thanks to the ex who swore he loved me. If he really loved me, he’d let me be happy. However, he doesn’t love me, not in the right way, at least.

  When you love someone, truly love them, you put them first. You put their happiness first. You set them free. Just as I would have set him free if the situation had been reversed.

  Roman nods once and backs away from me. My fucking heart is breaking; I can feel it.

  With my hand on the now open door, I turn my head to look at him. He’s still standing where I left him, arms around his chest, head hanging down. “When I told you that I loved you, I meant it, Roman. I would never do anything to hurt you.”

  Then I’m gone, hand over my mouth as I run from the house we once shared in tears.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Ace

  I don’t believe any of this, Ace.”

  “Believe it, Tessa.” I give my beautiful wife a hard stare. She’s been banging on at me for the past hour about how she doesn’t believe Marley has cheated on Roman.

  That bitch cheated all right. She got caught, that’s why she’s acting all innocent. Which is ridiculous, she’s been caught out, dammit!

  “Why would she marry Roman if she intended to cheat on him with her ex? It doesn’t make sense, Ace. She isn’t scared of Roman, and she didn’t marry him because she was scared he’d take Romany, which he has and I find it disgusting! Marley married Roman because she loves him. We all saw her face when she walked towards him that day, she was so happy, Ace.”

  I can’t deny that’s true, which doesn’t make any sense. However, maybe the bitch is just that good at acting.

  “I’m getting her phone checked. I don’t care what Roman says; I know she didn’t do this.”

  “Stay out of it, Wrench.”

  Wrench isn’t my cousin, but he’s Roman’s cousin on his mother’s side. Wrench has been Marley’s biggest supporter since the day he met her. The day she saved his life. We’re all grateful to Marley for that, but that doesn’t mean we need to give her a free pass for cheating on our brother!

  I mean, the bitch planned to take Roman’s daughter away from him. To another fucking country! The second Marley knew that cunt was still around and wanting her, she made her plans to leave Roman and take his child from him. A bitch already did that shit to him once, and I’m not going to let it happen again. Not that many people know about Roman’s older daughter and what losing her still does to him, but I do. Roman is my best friend, closer than any brothers could be, and I won’t let Marley hurt him any longer!

  I haven’t a damn clue why she married Roman, Marley could have left any time she damn well liked with Romany in tow. It’s not like she’s a prisoner. All I can think is that Marley is a crazy fucking bitch, who loves the attention.

  “I will not stay out of it!” Fists slam down on my kitchen table. I do nothing but take a deep breath in through my nose. “This is all bullshit, Ace, and you know it!”

  “You believe her because you feel like you own her for saving your life.”

  He sinks in his seat, mouth hanging open in disbelief. “I can’t believe you just said that. I believe Marley because she’s telling the truth, Ace. Think about it. Why the hell would she go through all of this if she just wanted to leave with her ex? It doesn’t make any sense. If she wanted to leave, she could have the day Marcus asked her to go with him. She didn’t need to go home to Roman. Hell, she didn’t need to come back to him in the first place. However, she did for Romany, and for the fact she loves Roman.”

  All right, he has a point.

  Why would she go through all of this, setting up home with him, marrying him? She could have just left months ago. So what the fuck is really going on?

  Of course, I’m going to believe my cousin, and I’m going to stick by him no matter what. However, he’s not happy, and he won’t be happy until this shit is dealt with. Roman has forbidden me from seeking out Marcus Nickson. Roman knows what I’m like, and he knows that I would have gone around to his place and smashed his damn face in. However, Roman won’t go over there, which is weird. My cousin would never, in the past, have allowed a man to take his woman from him. However, he’s got this stupid idea in his head that Marley loves the guy, her first love, and Roman doesn’t want to hurt her by taking the guy out.

  Which only proves to me how much my cousin still loves her. Roman loves Marley like he’s never loved anyone in his life before. This is killing him, no matter how strong Roman pretends to be right now, I know he’s hurting in ways I can’t imagine.

  Roman and me, we’re closer than blood brothers, so if he hurts, I hurt, and vice versa. I wish I knew how to fix this mess for him, but I just don’t. My wife has never cheated on me, hell, she fought too hard to be with me, and would never stoop that low. Tessa is a little over a decade younger than me, and I didn’t think I was the right man for her at first. Tessa proved to me that she’d never give up, she was in love with me, and nothing could stop her from being with me. Not the outlaw biker world I live in, not my age, not the fact I’m a grumpy cunt sometimes, and the truth is, I fucking loved her so much.

  I made Tessa mine, married her, and put four kids in her belly. She brought me to life, she keeps me grounded, and I know if she believes Marley, there must be something in it. I can’t just ignore it.

  I pres
s my hand to my wife’s swollen stomach. She’s pregnant with my son, our fourth kid. There are no words to describe what Tessa means to me. No number I could give that would come close to how much I love her.

  Her hand comes over mine, and I look up at her, she’s smiling at me. I lean in a kiss her softly. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.” She mumbles against my mouth.

  I turn to Wrench. “I hear what you’re saying, brother. I don’t want to believe Marley would do this anymore than you do. However, I was there when Marcus Nickson turned up at the garage and showed us those messages. They were detailed, and pretty damning, Wrench.”

  “I get that, Ace, but you remember what Apollo used to say?”

  I nod my head. “Look closely because nothing is ever as it seems. Occam’s Razor.”

  “The simplest explanation is usually the correct one.” Wrench continues. “Apollo was a smart man, Ace, and he was very rarely wrong.”

  He’s right about that. Roman won’t thank me for what I’m about to do, but if there is any chance that we have this wrong, then we owe it to Marley to fix things. “Get the phone checked. If there’s a good explanation, if it is that she didn’t do this, I will be the first one to apologize.”

  Wrench nods, and I can sense my wife smiling at me.

  “I need to speak to Roman. I need to make sure he’s all right.”

  “I’ll leave that to you. Roman seems to want to kill me every time he looks at me.” I chuckle at Wrench. He’s right about Roman; he’s been snapping at everyone, including me. Ain’t never seen him so angry and down about anything

  “Daddy?” I look over to the kitchen door where my tiny little girl is standing. Hannah is my eldest child, five years old, and Daddy’s little princess. She should be in bed, sound asleep like her brother and sister.

  “What are you doing up, baby girl?”

  She walks over to me, climbing onto my lap. “I heard yelling. It woke me up. Now I need Daddy cuddles.”

  I smile as she snuggles into my chest. I stroke her dark hair and kiss her head. It won’t be long before she’s asleep in my arms.

  “I’ll be going.” I nod at Wrench. He leans over and kisses my wife’s cheek. “Let me know how it goes with Roman.” He says to me.

  “I will.”

  “Night, Hannah Banana.”

  “Night, Wrench Bench.”

  Both my wife and I chuckle at the two of them, always rhyming their names. Wrench kisses my daughter’s head and leaves.

  “Everything will be okay, won’t it?”

  I open my mouth to tell my wife everything will be just fine, but my baby girl beats me to it. “Don’t worry, Mommy, my Daddy, will make everything better. Won’t you, Daddy?”

  I kiss her head. This special little girl who believes in the good of everyone and everything around her. “Of course, I will, baby.”

  Hannah reaches out for her mother’s hand. Tessa takes it with a smile on her face. “See, Mommy, my Daddy, will fix everything. He always makes it better.” She mumbles, eyes closed, voice fading. She’s asleep.

  “Is that right? Is Daddy going to make it all better?”

  “Lady, you’re asking for it.”

  “You know I am.” Tessa bites her lower lip, teasing me.

  “You wanna play, baby?” Because my dick is already stiff in my pants. Tessa nods her head, and I growl while getting to my feet with my daughter in my arms. “I’ll put her back to bed. You better be naked and waiting for me by the time I’m done.”

  “Yes, Daddy.”

  Fucking tease will be the death of me.

  I’ll speak to Roman tomorrow. My wife needs me tonight.

  Who the hell am I to let her down?

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Roman

  I’ve had shit from all ends. My mother gave me what for. She doesn’t believe Marley has cheated, nor does she think I should be keeping Romany away from her mom. She told me how vile that is of me when I can’t bear the thought of Marley taking Romany from me.

  Both my mom and dad sat with me and explained the pain I’m causing Marley. How much I’m hurting her by keeping Romany from her. The truth is that I have kept Romany from Marley for almost a week. My mother told me that I’m causing Marley undue stress, which will create depression. Marley needs to be with her baby. They need to be able to bond correctly. The fact I’ve now got my daughter on formula when her mother is quite capable of breastfeeding will no doubt cause Marley some serious emotional pain.

  I’ve taken that special bonding away from both of them, and I hate myself for it. I’m a vile human being. I know this already. I just know how to let go of the anger.

  I know how badly Romany is missing her mommy; she cries nonstop. I do all the little things Marley used to do, the singing to her, holding her and rocking her gently. It works for a short while, but she’s awake most of the time screaming. I know that’s due to the fact she wants the breast.

  It’s driving me crazy. I would never hurt my daughter, but I’m not coping right now. That’s why I’ve left Romany with my mother today; I need some time away from her. As bad as that sounds. I could have let Romany with Marley, but I’m scared she won’t give her back should she get her hands on her. Who could blame her? But I can’t risk it.

  I’ve had Ace on my back, telling me there must be a reason why doctor fuck face has those messages. That if Marley really has lost her phone, which she had, then she couldn’t have sent those messages. Like I told him: Marley has a new damn phone, and her name was there when I looked at the sender on his phone!

  Ace told me to really think about things, that why would Marley marry me if she intended to leave me. It doesn’t make sense to me either, but I can’t seem to let the anger go and think logically.

  I’ve had Wrench and my aunt Taylor on my back. Both of them believe I should be letting Marley spend time with Romany. That I should have asked her to take care of her daughter while I came to work.

  The truth is, I feel like a cunt for doing this to Marley. I know I can’t keep Romany away from her mother forever; it’s just not right, I know that. God, I don’t know what to do or how to fix what I’ve broken. I miss Marley so much. I miss her smiling at me, and I miss seeing her with Romany. I miss everything about her.

  I thought she would have gone to that motherfucker by now, but Wrench tells me that Marley doesn’t leave his house. Ace told me that he’s still giving her a hard time, calling her out on her cheating that she still swears never happened. I’ve told him to back off now. She knows she’s done wrong. Him going on at her won’t change a damn thing. Ace just smirked like he was waiting for confirmation that I still give a tiny damn about Marley.

  Cunt!

  What am I supposed to do? No one ever told me what to do in this kind of situation. All I do know is that I can’t keep my daughter from her mother much longer. It breaks my heart to see that baby girl crying so hard the way she does. She needs Marley, but I need to know she won’t take off with Romany just to spite me.

  There is nowhere Marley could go that I wouldn’t find her. Believe me. However, I think Wrench is right, Marley wouldn’t take off with Romany. If I look inside myself, deep down, I know she meant what she said about never breaking that promise. The way Marley told me that she loved me, and would never do anything to hurt me... Those tears, the begging... Yeah, I thought she was just saying it because of Romany, but I don’t know, now that I think about it, maybe she meant it. Marley loves me, wants to be with me, and hasn’t cheated on me. God, I want that to be true.

  However, the fact remains that those messages had Marley’s name on them. Of course, Willow is right; doctor dickhead could have received those messages from anyone and changed the display name in his phone to Marley’s. Why didn’t I click the name and retrieve the number? If I had, I would have known for sure if it was Marley’s or not.

  Right now, I’m at the clubhouse, Prez has called me into his office. Jett, Tank, Ace, Hawk, and Wrench a
re here, and they’re all looking at me. They know something.

  “What’s all this about?”

  “Sit down.” Prez is short and sweet today, without the sweet. I take a seat beside Ace. Jett is standing by the small window at the back of the room, Tank near him. Wrench is sitting on the small couch to the side of Ace and me, Prez in his seat behind his desk. “I called you in here because my man came back with some information.”

  “Okay?” I have no clue what he’s talking about.

  “It ain’t my place to tell you what to do in your personal life, Roman, but the way you’ve treated that girl where your daughter is concerned is disgustin’. I thought better of you.” I roll my eyes. I am so sick of hearing this shit! “Don’t roll your eyes at me, you son of a bitch! You should have spoken to the girl and got her side of things before you threw her out like old trash!”

  “She was cheatin’ on me! What the fuck was I supposed to do?”

  “Be a fuckin’ man, Roman! That’s what you were supposed to do. You don’t use your fuckin’ head. After everything, that girl went through just to be with you. She chose you. Fuckin’ married you! Why the hell would she do that if she didn’t want to? If she wanted to leave, all she had to do was take Romany and go!”

  I rub my forehead in frustration. I’ve heard it all before.

  “Tell him what you found out.”

  I look to Wrench.

  What the hell has he been up to behind my back?

  “I took Marley’s phone and got it checked out. A guy I know brought back every message sent and received from her phone. There were eleven in total. Every one of them was sent to you. Every one she received was from you, Roman. Not one message was to or from Marcus Nickson.”

  “But that doesn’t make any sense.” How the fuck can this be true?